1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a snow sensor to sense piling up of snow on an air conditioner and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Air conditioners cool or heat indoor air using a refrigeration cycle of a refrigerant including a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and an evaporator to provide a pleasant indoor environment to a user.
In general, an air conditioner includes an indoor unit installed in an indoor space and an outdoor unit including a compressor, an expansion device, and a heat exchanger and supplying a refrigerant to the indoor unit.
Such air conditioners may include one outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units coupled to the outdoor unit to perform air conditioning in a plurality of rooms of a building via simultaneous or individual operations thereof. Alternatively, air conditioners may include a plurality of outdoor units and a plurality of indoor units respectively coupled the outdoor units to perform air conditioning in a plurality of rooms via simultaneous or individual operations thereof.
In this case, depending on the weather conditions, snow may be piled up on an outdoor unit of an air conditioner and block airflow through the outdoor unit. In this regard, a method of removing the snow by periodically driving a snow blowing fan to prevent an air conditioner from malfunctioning is disclosed.
However, an outdoor unit may be unnecessarily driven even when snow is not piled up according to this method since the fan is regularly driven regardless of piling up of snow, thereby causing a waste of energy.
Furthermore, snow may be piled up on the outdoor unit blocking airflow of the outdoor unit when there is a large amount of snow fall in a short period of time since the fan is not continuously driven.